Tales of the Amalgam'verse: Godzilla meets King Kong!
by Tarbtano
Summary: A prequel to "The Bridge: A Godzilla - MLP Crossover" taking place in the Amalgam'verse the kaiju inhabited. A young Godzilla Junior voyages out to sea and encounters another king besides his father
1. Chapter 1

**Old Birth Island, Late 1994, approximately one week after Xenilla's attack**

Godzilla Junior or "Little Godzilla" as Major Yuki called him, boredly paced across the island. Around 30 meters tall he was going through quite the growth spurt, though still retained a lot of his youngster appearance of a toddler with some baby fat. The trauma of Xenilla's incursion was still there, but a young and optimistic mind had helped blot out the strain. Junior hadn't been forced to grow up just yet. And like most youngsters the number one agenda on his itinerary today was playtime, be it an after effect of his year at the Kyoto Institute or such behavior being natural to many animals his age as play and imitation often taught skills of an adult.

The only problem, as he waddled back and forth across the island, was there wasn't anyone to play with. The grouchy veteran Junior took for a silly and nice man, Major Yuki, had left the island months ago so Junior couldn't unintentionally hound him like he used to. And the second option, Godzilla Senior, was far out at sea at the moment. Junior pondered the second option and stood on the shore as the waves rolled over his toes.

He could swim really good and had gone out to sea before. There was that time he buzzed those silly people at Odo Island before his father came back to collect him. Godzilla Junior grunted happily at the memories. Those villagers were weird but so nice, they even gave him a boat to play with! The only problem was one of them got lost and tied up on it and wouldn't stop screaming when he picked it up. Then there was the happy memories back at the institute with the psychic children, Miki, the G-Force teams, nice mister Kazuma; and of course his mother Azusa! Humans were so nice, in the youngster's mind there was nothing they'd ever do to try and hurt him, except maybe that one monster who looked like a human, Katagiri! Junior shook uneasily at the memory of his shock treatments, eased by the follow up recollection of his mother swooping in the rescue.

There weren't any humans on Birth Island and his father wasn't on Birth Island either. Little Junior liked humans and he liked his father. There were humans out past the sea and his father was out there somewhere. So the logic was simple and made perfect sense to the him as he waddled off into the surf and started tirelessly swimming. If he was here and they were there, he'd just have to go find them!

A young mind has little concept of time. Junior didn't know how long he'd been alternatingly swimming or walking on the bottom, but unbeknownst to him he was going on anything but a straight path. The kaiju was easily distracted, investigating every reef or sea creature he came across as well as being towed along by multiple currents. And after wolfing down half a kelp forest he slipped into a food coma, already tired because of all that swimming. Caught in a current a dozen meters below the surface, he rolled to place his back down to look at the sunbeams high above, and fell into a deep nap. It was fortunate he was under the surface, as it spared him getting tossed around by waves or potentially struck by lightning from the storm he drifted under. Godzilla Junior slept peacefully through the entire journey under a band of clouds, mists, and storms; only finally waking up after coming into the clear and bopping his head on a pillar of rocks jutting out of the water.

Yipping as he awoke and rubbing his head, Junior's eyes widened after he surfaced and beheld what was before him. A massive, mountainous island surrounded by rocky protrusions. Eager to explore this new realm, he righted himself and swam from the sea to the mouth of a very deep river; heading inland to Skull Island.

Skull Island was in many respects like Birth Island. The landscapes were huge, the trees so tall Junior could even find some shade, and skies often clear. The differences though stacked up fast. For one the altitudes could scale much higher. Birth Island's highest peak was perhaps sixty meters, whereas Skull Island's was easily fifteen times that. The waterways were also much more extensive, as Junior had managed to swim all the way to the interior by river alone. And whereas Birth Island's fauna was relegated to the norm of the south pacific, mostly birds and small reptiles; Skull Island's fauna was of a much larger scale. Nothing that quite equaled or even rivaled Junior's size yet, but still said something when the smallest creature he'd noticed thus far was a deer and the largest was an elephant sized ceratopsian dinosaur, a ferrucutus. Scores of birds, pterosaurs, large bats, and other winged creatures flew across the sky and above the amazed youngster; many roosting at a large set of caves at the central mountain peak which resembled a skull in arrangement. Though the record for the largest was soon broken when something stirred to his left as Junior waded down the river heading north. A set of almost wood-like horns and a foliage covered back emerged from the water and soon Junior found himself looking at the largest buffalo he'd ever seen. Easily four times the size of an elephant, the sker buffalo which had been sleeping on the river bottom was still much smaller than the young kaiju. The buffalo snorted, pitching its head up as Junior squatted down to have a better look at it. They sniffed at each other for a moment, tilting heads and making no sudden moments. The buffalo suddenly stopped short and looked over to the right, Junior following its vision. While he heard no voices the little kaiju was soon filled with delight at a certain sight. Sitting in a long canoe and paddling towards a large wall of some sort downstream were several humans!

Godzilla Junior laughed with a saurian cackle, turning around and eagerly wading towards the stoic islanders who were quick to increase the pace of their rowing. Giving chase it took Junior a moment to hear the panicked bellows behind him and glimpse the sker buffalo running full tilt away from the river and across the plains.

Tilting his head further back, he only had time to widen his eyes and screech in surprise when the hideous form of an adult skullcrawler pounced down at him from a peak bordering the shore. Godzilla Junior shrieked an alarm call and tumbled into the river, a lucky tail smack from him spinning around throwing the skullcrawler off. Godzilla Junior scrambled up to his feet and tried to face the skullcrawler. While the two were of near equal size, it was like comparing a baby lion to a fully grown jackal. Lacking experience or instinct to attack, the youngster scared easily like he had against Xenilla and tried to flee after managing to throw the skullcrawler off when it opened up several cuts on his arm. On instinct he ran to what he considered good, the human village's wall downstream to try and get help. But in his panic to run away Junior almost overturned the canoe in his wake. Spying the boat out of the corner of his eye and knowing the monster was hot on their heels, Junior did the first thing that came to mind. Grab the humans and run for it. Clutching the canoe and the bewildered islanders in his little arms, Junior only made it another fifty meters before the crackling hiss of the skullcrawler heralded another pounce. Struck from behind he stumbled over, tossing the boat downstream and doubling head over tail with the predator on top of him. The skullcralwer swiped and snapped at Junior's face, the terrified saurian screaming in panic as he flailed to try and bat it away.

Just as it pinned his head down and began to spread jaws filled with too many teeth, a massive form closed down on the predator's torso and neck like a vice. At first Junior thought what pried the skullcrawler away was his father come to rescue him, but as his swirling vision locked on to the towering figure that lifted the skullcrawler over itself, he saw fur, large canine teeth; and a simian form instead of the visage of Godzilla Senior. King Kong roared with thunder, prying open the skullcrawler's jaws beyond their breaking point and crushing the top jaw in until it's body went limp.

Kong sneered with a visibly disgusted look, dropping the corpse aside and glancing down at the little kaiju. The twenty years since his encounter with the 1970s MONARCH expedition had only greatened Skull Island's god king. Grew he still did, at his current stature of over sixty meters he would have towered over his younger self. The giant ape regarded Junior for a moment before grumbling, turning, and walking downstream. Junior turned himself around on his hands and knees, watching in awe as Kong crouched down next to the river and gently scooped up the canoe and the waiting, remarkably calm islanders; before depositing them onto the shore. The villagers bowed their heads solemnly while their god rolled his shoulders and walked off towards the interior of the island. An elated smile formed over Junior's face. He chirped and got to his feet, crawling up onto the shore. While his wounds did bleed some and ached, he was far too excited to care. This entity may have been huge, but he seemed nice enough after saving him and the humans from that monster. Plus Kong looked like a human, somewhat, and almost all humans Junior knew were good. So by process of association, that meant this Kong character was good! And if he was good and very strong, of course Junior would be plenty safe around him while he explored. In truth Kong was mostly just killing the skullcrawler given their voraciousness and his personal hatred of the species, but caring for the humans was an intention and he'd left the peculiarly odd dinosaur unharmed due to seeing Junior try to save the humans in the boat.

Giggling, the future King of the Monsters eagerly waddled after the way the King of Skull Island had went; trying mostly in vain to catch up. In many cases, he was literally following in King Kong's footsteps.


	2. Chapter 2

**2 Weeks Later**

King Kong grabbed the skullcrawler by the tail and yanked it away from the brontosaurus herd, halting the predator's voracious appetite from seeing to the herd's decimation. Hearing loud stomping behind him, the ape whirled the crawler around and smashed it into the pair of enormous theropods attempting to sneak up behind him. The enlarged, 30-meter tall, kaiju sized vastatosaurus and tyrannosaurus doubled over from the skullcrawler colliding with them and the three tumbled across the forest in a heap. Not losing himself for a moment in the midst of battle, King Kong was privy to the hisses and slithering approaching from the treeline, grabbing a tree trunk and using it to bat away a lunging giant python.

Godzilla Junior watched on from behind a hill, chirping as he tried to hide. Part of him was scared of all the monsters coming out of the woodwork but the other part of him was entrapped in watching King Kong. The ape stood alone, outnumbered and if the mass of his foes was totaled, outsized, and yet he was holding his own. When he couldn't outmuscle or outfight an enemy with the primary fury of fist and fang, he'd fight in ways different from his enemies. Kong would grab a boulder and bash the skullcrawler over the head. He'd use the same momentum to snatch up the python and swing it like a flail into the Vastatosaurus to trip it up. Jumping atop the falling theropod, the great ape would grab hold of another tree and aim it between the lunging Tyrannosaurus' jaws to force feed it the foliage and force it out of the fight while trying to dislodge the obstruction.

Kong was king of this island and he was keen to remind his rivals of that even if they tried to gang up on him. Even with the python coiled around his leg, he gripped it with his foot while stomping on the skullcrawler while holding the jaw-snapping Vastatosaurus and Tyrannosaurus aloft with each arm. The ape let out a hurricane of a roar that silenced the whole island and left Junior watching in awe. One from the modern world might look upon such a powerful being like Kong or Godzilla Senior and be left agape at how an animal could be so powerful, seemingly invincible to both its rivals and man's arms. But to those on Skull Island with Kong, Nara Island with Orka, or Odo Island with Godzilla; it made perfect sense. Beings like that weren't mere animals. Depending on one's definition, they might as well have been titans or gods. And when Junior looked upon his father rushing to defend him or Kong acting as warden to his dominion by defending those smaller than himself; he was in awe.

King Kong beat his chest and bellowed, his surviving rivals running for cover back to the forest to lick their wounds or flee for their lives with the knowledge to never challenge the island's king again. Godzilla Junior hopped up from his hiding place and began running towards Kong while he chirped cheers.

The youngster saw his father's and Kong's best traits and he saw what he wanted to grow up to be.

King Kong gave the youngster a sideways glance, hiding mild surprise that thing was still following him around before turning to walk to the lake and wash off.

As the weeks passed, Kong still ignored Godzilla Junior entirely despite his attempts to converse or get Kong's attention. One wouldn't be wrong in thinking the reason King Kong was recently partial to traveling over the particularly rough terrain and sleeping in Skull Mountain's cave was because he was widening the space between himself and Godzilla Junior to see if he could throw him off his trail. Junior was slower over the rapidly changing elevations and he still hadn't found a way up to the cave yet as he lacked the muscle strength to pull himself up the sheer rocky cliffs.

But by stubborn perseverance, the little Godzilla wasn't one to quit. Running up and down the mountains, clawing his way up steeper and steeper slopes; and mimicking Kong every time he saw the ape do something was definitely having an effect on his current growth spurt. While he wasn't growing especially taller, as a true size and mass shift wouldn't come until he absorbed more radiation than the sun could give him; his physiology was shifting. Baby fat was decreasing to the point it was all but gone while muscle mass was increasing, flattening out some of the pudgy curves he once had. His tail lengthened to a degree and his face was beginning to become less wide and more boxy shaped with more pronounced fangs. He still was recognizable by his young stage seen previously in the year, but the transition to what the world would see as his teenager stage after Birth Island's explosion the next year was beginning to show through.

And as King Kong set on the edge of Skull Island's cave watching the aurora, he finally heard the noises coming from the back of the mountain stop and sounds from within the cave behind him commence. The ape didn't need glance back or glance over at the form which walked up beside him and lowered down to a seat to know who it was. In truth, the ape's expression when he first heard Junior successfully climbing up the mountain and into the cave could best be described as slightly bemused. He still briefly bore his teeth and grunted at his guest when Godzilla Junior stepped out onto the same stone platform, to remind the youngster to mind his space. Kong was king here and while he was tolerating Junior's presence, he made dominion clear. Junior only quietly grunted in reply, keeping his posture low to indicate no threat as he waddled up to the edge and plopped down a few dozen meters away to watch the aurora. On some level Kong actually enjoyed having some company and Junior had proved persistent enough. Apes were social creatures by nature and having someone else to watch out over the domain of Skull Island with the auroras streaking high above brought back memories. It still felt like yesterday when he wasn't the only great primate on the island sometimes.

In the following weeks, Junior followed and copied almost everything King Kong did in both patrols and observing the ape's battles. Sometimes it almost seemed like Kong was displaying his skills multiple times in demonstration to an audience he knew he had. Success wasn't extremely forthcoming.

Kong grasped a massive tree trunk, skillfully stripping off the branches in a single motion to fashion it into a club. Seeing this, Junior would pick up a smaller tree and attempt to do the same, only to accidentally apply too much pressure the wrong way and snap it in the middle; squawking in surprise when one broken half bopped him on the head.

King Kong vaulted himself forward and launched himself into the air, shoulder tackling an enormous Vastatosaurus before he began to wrestle and overpower the theropod kaiju. Junior, practicing on a large tree, overshot his jump and ended up plowing into a hill behind it; burying himself up to his flailing legs in dirt.

Wading down the river, King Kong casually passed by the village. He was extremely careful in his steps, causing no damage as the villagers bowed their heads in worship before skillfully stepping over the wall. Following along behind him, Godzilla Junior paced down the river, glancing down at his steps to make sure his wake wasn't too big to disrupt the docks or any of the people on them. He looked to the wall and found a spot to cross, backing up to get a running start. He took a sideways glance at the islanders to make sure he hadn't scared any of them. To Junior's surprise and curiosity, they were all looking at him silently without a hint of running away like they had weeks before. The elders in their blue face paint led the crowd in calmly bowing their heads to him briefly, like they were greeting a guest. Junior chirped as he looked back ahead, running forward and managing to jump over the wall.

When he made it over without managing to damage any of it, the little dinosaur couldn't help but stamp his feet in excited glee. He quickly ran off to try and find Kong again, whom unbeknownst to him had been watching from behind a mountain. The ape gave a mildly impressed grunt before resuming his current patrol.

A few hours later and Junior was still walking along trying to find the island's king, who had left for the far southwest of the island chasing an odd smell. Kong had been following this scent for months but never quite managed to ever find it. It was reptilian for sure and at first, he thought it was Junior but given timing and how long he'd been around the young Godzilla he knew it couldn't have been his protege. That and the fact whenever he did catch a faint whiff of it, it was always accompanied by much death. Multiple sker buffalo killed, herds of brontosaurus laid waste to; even the skullcrawlers didn't kill this much. Which indicated one of two things. Either it surplus killed more than the skullcrawlers or it was growing extremely fast and eating constantly. Based on the fact it seemed to start with deer and buffalo before working its way up the foodchain, he suspected it was both. As he closed in on the almost agonizingly faint scent, however, the King of Skull Island was soon filled with a sense of foreboding.

It led to a skullcrawler burrow, but this mysterious creature was definitely not a skullcrawler as the maker of the burrow lay dead beside the tunnel; torn into and partially eaten before whatever killed it decided it wasn't very palatable. Kong inspected the corpse, curling his snout and nose at the foul stench. The crawler itself was quite large, almost as big as Ramarak. However while crawlers were known to him to be cannibalistic on occasion like all carnivores, they almost never did so outside of corpses or if they were starving. There was plenty of food around that would put up much less of a fight and the disturbed dirt around the tunnel entrance showed this skullcrawler died from whatever caused it. The bite and claw wounds were also troubling. The bite pattern was too wide for another skullcrawler and too narrow for a Vastatosaurus', and the claw wounds were totally unlike either. The faint, almost invisible scent was all over it too and lead into the tunnel. Some creature he didn't know, which was growing fast, ambushed a skullcrawler just after it emerged, killed it, ate parts of it; and then disappeared using the skullcrawler's own tunnels which honeycombed the island like a subterranean maze. If it used crawler tunnels that could explain how it kept hidden as it grew. King Kong furrowed his brow and looked out over the island.

And now there was no telling where it would pop up next.

Kilometers away, several islanders rowed their canoes downstream to cast their nets at the best fishing spots. While the time of day was unsafe to a degree given carnivores were also attracted to prime fishing spots, the elders agreed that these same areas had been made reasonably safe. This new creature on the island that followed their god around frequented the area and that usually meant Kong wasn't too far away either. They were having some good luck so far with nets full of catch, but the waters around them took a sudden shift. Massive bubbles breached and shook the surface and an entire section of water suddenly surged down from an opening bursting free under it. All but one of the canoes either tried to row away or row closer to save their comrade, whom was stuck in the middle of the surge and spinning around. That's when the thing that caused the sudden shift burst out of the water, closing its jaws down on top of the canoe like a lion would a mouse.

Clawing its way out of the submerged skullcrawler burrow, the monstrosity was a dinosaur of some variety but looked unnatural by any accord. Rather than a massive member of the already large dynasties of carnivorous dinosaur such as Tyrannosauridae or Carnosauridae, it was an anomalously huge member of a typically smaller family much like the Ceratosauridae's Godzillasaurus. In this case, as it got to its feet and flexed the inner toes that bore enormous, sickle-shaped talons, it appeared to be a type of Dromaeosauridae or "Raptor". But rather than a sleek build that was covered in feathers, this creature was muscular and saturated in large scales with its only plumage on the chin, back of the head, elbows, and tail tip. It was a bloody red in coloration, save for the ivory-hued scales going across the chest, throat, and stomach. The arms were shorter than the legs but still quite long and muscled, sporting opposable thumbs and two other fingers per taloned hand. Spines of various length lined its back and accented its cheekbones. This monstrous beast was an aberrational form of a normally scaled raptor species the islander's wordlessly referred to as "death runners", and like its smaller kin, it had a particular fondness for the flesh of mammals.

They would know it by the distinct, barking roar the 35-meter tall monster made when it destroyed the fishing boats and began charging the wall. "Gaw".

Gaw tore into the fortifications with little hesitance, splintering wood and knocking stone out of place as it burrowed through the wall. The islanders quickly dropped what they were doing and took refuge in their holiest place, the wreckage of "The Wanderer". Hunters covered the entrances with walls of spears in commendable bravery as the elders lead prayers to invoke their savior. Just as Gaw managed to claw herself a noticeable hole in the wall, they managed to invoke something.

A gray-green blur jumped down from the neighboring mountain and tackled Gaw, smashing the attacking dinosaur across the length of the wall. Snapped wooden spikes and stone flew through the air as a set of clawed hands grabbed Gaw by the tail and yanked her away from the humans in an impressive show of strength. Rolling through the air, Gaw got her limbs beneath her and dug trenches into the ground to slow her backward tumble; leering up at her attacker. Godzilla Junior hid his nervousness and put himself between Gaw and the village. Truth be told, he was terrified. Against Xenilla, the skullcrawler, and multiple other dangers he'd encountered he'd always run away. However, by merit of him seeing Kong wasn't around to save the humans or the fact he was starting to grow a spine during his time on the island, he was starting to show who's son he was and didn't back down. Just as Gaw let out an ear-splitting shriek, baring her claws and fangs in anticipation; Junior imitated both his father's and King Kong's knack for display by slapping his tail on the ground and uttering a loud screech as he still hadn't managed a roar yet. The two massive yet not fully grown theropods charged and slammed into each other, being of near equal mass and soon rolling across the ground into the river as they wrestled, slashed, bit, and smacked.

Several minutes later and the fight wasn't going Junior's way. He fought admirably with a ferocious primal rage, but Gaw was simply a more experienced in combat and killing in a saurian fury. Taking a headbutt to the gut, Junior tumbled through a hill and rolled into the valley below. He pushed himself back up to his feet while Gaw sneered, walking down the mountain slopes while licking some blood off her fangs. Junior panted and snorted, wiping some of the same off his brow. Fighting purely tooth and claw wasn't working and he wasn't so far gone into his mutation that he sported some of his father's power set like the plasma beam or pulse shockwave. Animalistic brute force wasn't viable and he couldn't fight like his father.

Junior's eyes drifted to a half-submerged tree trunk behind him, long dead and the ironwood practically hard as a rock. He drew up a plan. He'd just have to fight like someone else he'd been watching.

Gaw tilted her head when Junior turned around and crouched down in mild confusion, but relying on instinct she instantly sprang to attack prey which had its back turned to her. She was so focused on carnage that she didn't notice what Junior had picked up and stripped free of branches before he whirled around and slammed the makeshift club into her skull. Yelping in pain as well as now missing a few teeth, Gaw face-planted into the swamp. When she tried to get up again her enemy took another swing at her, this time shattering the club over her shoulder and right arm with a loud crack that signaled a potentially broken joint. Flailing around with a now limp arm, the enormous raptor snapped her jaws blindly but soon encountered an interruption when Godzilla Junior jammed the root end of his now half-club down her throat. They two struggled with Gaw's flailing growing more and more desperate. But before Junior could try and choke her, Gaw managed to score some luck and braced both her powerful legs against the ceratosaurid's belly and kicked him off.

When Gaw managed to get to her feet, grasp and yank the offending tree out; Junior was already gone. Smelling blood and following the pounding footfalls leading north she gave chase. While Gaw might have speculated her enemy was fleeing for his life after being wounded, pursuing out of predatory bloodlust; Junior was actually doing something else. While wounded, his parent's stubbornness and emulation of King Kong's strategy had kicked in. He wasn't fleeing, he was taking the fight somewhere he could find more things to even the playing field.

By the time Gaw caught up the scenery around Junior's scent had changed drastically. Ugly, sulfurous yellow mists clogged the air and the bones of fallen titans littered the landscape. Gaw stepped into the bone fields, sniffing at the air but the reeking sulfur was obscuring Junior's scent as badly as the mists were her sight. It was by her acute hearing and reflexes that she managed to react in time to Godzilla Junior charging her from her side. Holding a massive ceratopsian skull between his hands, Junior had attempted to impale Gaw on one of the brow horns but only managed to score a glancing slice across her sternum due to Gaw nimbly jumping out of the way and smashing her tail across his face. Junior rolled across the ground and onto his back, being forced to hold out a forearm which Gaw bit down on to keep her from snapping or slashing at his throat. Grabbing hold of a large boulder, Godzilla shrieked and bashed it across Gaw's skull multiple times until she let go. The two rose and locked into a struggle again, Gaw swiping at Godzilla's face while he kept her at bay by forcing a femur into her jaws and grabbing her by the throat.

A power began to well up inside the young kaiju, much the same as when he used the glowing bubbles only to a far greater degree. His short dorsal spines began to flicker and almost like it was second nature to him. Junior opened up his jaws and vented off the energy built up. It wasn't a full beam of radioactive wrath, but with the vents of methane being broken open in the struggle, it didn't need to be. The fiery explosion was visible for kilometers, earning the attention of two towering sets of eyes, one to the south and one to the north.

Gaw and Junior were alike in many ways. They were both aberration forms of young apex predators working their way up the food chain, and they were both growing fast. They were both a potential future queen or king in their own right once fully grown. But there was one big difference. The heir to the Odo Island legend had grown to be fireproof much earlier in development than the creatures and kaiju of Skull Island did.

Gaw snapped and flailed, charred, smoking, and still burning across much of her body. Godzilla Junior was singed and blackened in numerous spots both otherwise not too worse for the wear on account of the fire, pounced upon her and grabbed her by the jaws. Gaw thrashed and kicked, but the son of Godzilla managed to hold on and begin to wrench her fanged maw apart. Gaw managed to briefly get free by grabbing Junior's arm with her good one and clawed at it, but the enraged Godzillasaurus stomped on the offending limb after letting go. He grabbed Gaw by the head and flipped the mutant raptor over his shoulder. Grasping her by the tail Junior picked up and slammed his enemy downwards and swung her around through the boneyard multiple times. Now with thoroughly dazed, Gaw wasn't able to free herself when Godzilla got on top of her again and pulled the carnage lover's jaws apart. Despite having some difficulty still, he was succeeding. Gaw let out one last shriek before her jaw was broken and Junior crushed her skull down into itself. Gaw's corpse went limp as it flopped across the ground. Godzilla Junior, riddled with cuts that were sure to scar, planted his foot on his first slain's shoulder. His labored, tired breath was the only noise in the bone fields for a few minutes as he caught his breath. A low grunt to the south caught his attention and Junior looked up.

King Kong had caught up and was helping pull the young kaiju up to his feet. Having seen the smoke from the explosion, he came running fearing it was a repeat of what happened twenty years ago with the helicopters. That fear was only greatened when he saw the damage to the wall and the tracks showing signs of a fantastic battle stretching across the island. He looked upon Junior and the burnt corpse at his feet and put the facts together. Moving Gaw's broken jaw back and forth to confirm she was dead, King Kong grunted and touched at Junior's shoulder just below where a bite wound was. If one could transcribe what was said by body language, they'd hear-

 _"Can you stand?"_

Junior shook himself off, glancing over his cuts and bruises but dulling out the pain. If he got some sunlight to absorb radiation from they'd mend quickly.

 _"I'll be fine, sensei."_

King Kong scoffed turning and walking out of the bone yard and masking a bit of pride as Junior followed along.

 _"Still calling me that?"_

 _"Word the humans where I grew up used. Means teacher."_

The King of Skull Island ignored the story Junior started telling with a humored shrug, instead just trying to figure out which was the easiest way to the lake so Junior could wash the grim out of his wounds. Squid was an appealing option for that night for the two of them, if the saurian had been paying enough attention to learn how to catch them. It was Kong, however, who let his attention waver. The trees to Junior's left shifted and a large skullcrawler began to take aim to pounce on the wounded dinosaur. Just at it sprung forth and both Kong and his protege's eyes were fixed upon it, it died before it even hit the ground. Flash fried by a torrent of blue plasma firing out from the ocean.

A new roar echoed across Skull Island and Junior sensed a familiar presence coming ashore.

Epilogue coming soon...

 **MYTHOLOGY GAGS!** (Because I had so much fun using them)

-Kong's opponents in the 1v4 fight are his main opponents from the four core, non-sequel King Kong films. A Tyrannosaurus (King Kong - 1933), a giant python (King Kong - 1976), a Vastatosaurus (King Kong - 2005); and a skullcrawler (Kong: Skull Island). The other canonical foe from American media is Gaw, who was Kong's enemy in the 1933 continuity's prequel novel/comic (Kong: King of Skull Island).

-Junior is not the first Godzilla to use a tree as a weapon. Showa Godzilla picked one up to take a few swings at Megalon. The late Showa age Godzilla was also one of Junior's core components.

-King Kong helping to inspire and (mostly unintentionally) mentor Godzilla is a nod to the fact Tanaka and the other principle creators of Godzilla were huge King Kong fans, following in its metaphorical footsteps.

-Junior attempts to impale Gaw on a giant ceratopsian skull. This is how King Kong killed her in the novel. Here it mostly fails and thus the more iconic jaw break is used.


	3. Chapter 3

Thundering stomps echoed across Skull Island for miles and tidal waves flooded the shores for several hundred feet. Giving off an aura of power that sent even those creatures drawn to the radiation running for cover, Godzilla Senior broke landfall in the island's north. Furious at both the efforts he went to find his lost son and the worry he'd been put through ever since he discovered him missing, Senior had curled his lips back to a permanent sneer. The perpetual storms surrounding the island played hell with more than just magnetic instruments, some element of it had clouded the godzillasaur's otherwise natural ability to sense his own kind. He'd known his son had voyaged out to sea and was somewhere in the southern pacific or indian ocean. But he never could get an exact bearing, so he'd been forced to criss-cross the ocean for the past week. It was concern with finding his child that was the only thing that kept Senior from following his first instinct and blaming the humans before exacting revenge.

King Kong only needed a glance at the creature to instantly have all his defensive instincts fire off like alarm sirens. It stunk of unstable energies and looked beyond unnatural. He did see some resemblance between it and his protege, but also plenty of differences. While Junior was still growing, Kong had seen him change enough to get a rough idea of what he might look like as an adult. Aside from the opposable thumbs, posture, and external ears; he still looked like he was growing into a form natural to him. But this creature? Its tail was overly rounded and almost segmented, the posture was overly upright, many of the muscles seemed oddly proportioned, and the dorsal spines looked too regulated and rounded almost like some unstable heat melted them slightly. Still a functional body, but one that seemed less like a natural growth and more like some creature already grown that had been twisted and reshaped into its current form. Humans in the 2000s would attribute the physical difference between Godzilla Senior and his successor to Senior being mutated as an adult whereas Junior grew up with a stabilized mutation. In the 1990s, King Kong just saw something that looked plain wrong.

Despite the now growling Godzilla Senior being forty meters taller and certainly much heavier, the King of Skull Island would defend his territory and those of the island from threats. As far as Kong was concerned with the weeks past and his defense of the village, Junior was "of the island" now. The ape instantly put himself between the approaching Senior and Junior, pushing on the latter's chest slightly to get him behind him as he sized up the intruder. Stepping up on a tall hill to give himself a bit more height for both appearance as well as a vantage point should he need to lunge, King Kong smacked his palms against his muscular chest with reverberating booms before letting loose the loudest roar he could. Godzilla Senior snarled in annoyance as he stood in the river below the hill, smashing his tails across the waters in a loud crash before returning the roar in kind. The saurian's lips curled back to bare all his fangs and the ape did the same. Godzilla Senior started to advance forward, intent on reclaiming his son and going through anything that got in his way. Kong held his ground to protect his island, picking up the femur bone of a great dinosaur and held it tight enough to turn his knuckles white.

Before Kong could lunge to ram the sharp bone down Senior's throat or Senior tested to see how flammable the ape was, Godzilla Junior's telltale screeches broke the attention as he ran up between them. Barking to his father, Junior's tail wagged happily and he kept a relaxed stance. Breaking away from the mutual death-glare he and Kong were giving each other, Godzilla Senior looked to his son and grunted, letting out a calmed series of barks and low chirps that sounded like a mix of an alligator and bird speaking. Junior returned the sounds, looking back at his sensei and chirping. Godzilla Senior stoically stood up again and looked past the ape at the bone fields. From his great height, the still smoking corpse of Gaw was visible and he'd previously noticed the claw and bite marks on his son. Senior bellowed, looking upon his now much more mature looking child who was now missing almost all his baby fat and almost frog-like face he had before. In a manner of gentleness he rarely showed, Senior walked over to his son and placed a hand upon him to pat him on the head and shoulders. Junior closed his eyes and chirped happily, joyful to have made his father proud.

Seeing hands and claws that could no doubt mangle and shred showing tenderness to his protege, King Kong relaxed even when Senior looked back up at him. The two kaiju stared each other down again, now sporting far more stoic and relaxed expressions. Perhaps a bit impressed the greatest of apes had the courage or bravado to stand up to him as well as grateful for the island king watching over his son, Senior gave Kong a slight nod. The ape put the bone weapon down and snorted, earning a calm bellow from Godzilla Senior.

In one way or another, by body language or vocalization, Godzilla Senior said something to King Kong he'd practically never told any other soul in his life.

Thank you.

Turning back to the sea, Senior began to wade upriver and towards the ocean; casting a grunt behind him to call Junior to come along. Refreshed even after his battle from both the warm sun and the cool waters rinsing off his wounds, Junior chirped and waded then swam after his father. As they approached the cloud bank just off the shore of the island, a low bellow called out after them. Senior ignored it and walked into the mist and clouds, but Junior turned back to see King Kong standing beside some of the sea spires looking upon him. The ape grunted with an almost pleased look on his face, beating his chest again and roaring out over the ocean. It wasn't a declaration of dominion, a threat, or any other sort of negative utterance like all his other roars had been. It almost sounded happy for it was a farewell.

Paused in front of the storm wall, the now young teenage Godzilla took in a deep breath. With a spur of confidence and growth of the past weeks allowing him to do so, both Kong and the world heard Junior's first roar that day. Master and student verbally bowing to each other, Kong and Junior returned to their domains of jungle and ocean in opposite directions.

Inside the hallowed wreckage of "The Wanderer", that behemoth of a ship that came to the island in the 1930s and was dragged inland by Kong's parents when their infant was captured, several islanders received a nod from the patriarch and matriarch as they brought forth the hand-crafted paints. With great skill with hand and brush, they went about decorating a blank piece of wall like it was a canvas.

King Kong beat his chest, thundering with each blow as he declared his might to intimidate a pack of skullcrawlers. Years and kilometers away, the grown up Godzilla Junior would face down Grand King Ghidorah. He smacked and clapped tightened fists together while slapping the ground with his tail with thundering blows; loosing a defiant roar that got the demon dragon's attention.

The painting continued, showing both broad strokes and fine detail as the two painting teams worked in unison on opposite ends of the canvas, working their way in.

Kong, battling it out against the crawlers near the caves, grabbed hold of one and used it to bash others of its kind aside when they attempted to pounce on him all at once.

Godzilla Junior braced himself to withstand the force of the charging Super Gyaos in front of Canterlot, throwing the bat off and grabbing it by the neck to use it against it's own kind in an identical manner.

The familiar visage of Kong became visible in the painting, standing atop numerous foes as it defended the bowing a show of their gods' mighty strength he held giant dinosaurs aloft with either hand, gripping a vast serpent with his foot while stomping on a crawler with his other limb. On the opposite side of the canvas, the second figure was coming to familiarity. Smaller than Kong at the moment, but doing the same divine act nonetheless as he stood between the bowed humans and the demonic beast they called Gaw. The figure bore a reptilian tail, spiny back, and flickers of light erupted from his maw.

Finishing his battle, Kong wrenched open the jaws of the alpha crawler and stuffed his fist down its throat to end it. Its limp body fell at his feet and left the pack scrambling while retreating to their burrows. The King of Skull Island beat his chest and bellowed in dominion.

Standing inside San Francisco Bay, Godzilla Junior wrenched open the jaws of Trespasser to copy what he'd been taught before adding his own flair to the finishing blow by firing his burning wrath down the monster's throat. He didn't stop until it was little more than smoke and a disembodied head.

The painting was done and it was a masterpiece. All the village gathered round and bowed their heads. They had their god and he was irreplaceable, but a new story had been added to their pantheon. One of a traveler from the seas who learned under their king, someone who they thought destined to become a king in his own right one day.

Godzilla Junior dropped Trespasser's head and roared to the heavens, the King of the Monsters reasserting his title.

The master honors the apprentice by teaching them, the apprentice honors the master by spreading the teachings to become a master themselves.

In memory of Merian C. Cooper, the original master who inspired, and Tomoyuki Tanaka, the indirect apprentice who became a master.


End file.
